Freeing the Genie

Breaking the Genie's Bonds

Freeing the Genie is a very selfless act. It takes some work and time, and the wisher will receive no direct benefit from doing it. However, there are neighborhood-wide benefits once the genie is free, and as you'll see, it's a semi-permanent benefit. Either way, it'll definitely add some variety to your neighborhood.

Freeing the Genie will start an opportunity, so be sure you don't have a current one active that you care about completing.

Pyro goes ahead and wishes the genie free... on the third wish, of course, to maximize his gains. It's a multi-step process that begins with Pyro placing the lamp into a refrigerator. The act of freezing the lamp is a single, sustained action: he won't have to walk away. In fact, Pyro just stands there in front of the fridge waiting for it to be done, which takes about a half-hour in-game. During this time, no one can get into the fridge to eat, but hey: there are more serious issues at stake here. After that, the lamp needs to be heated, so Pyro shoves it in the oven in the same manner.

After the lamp is done baking, Pyro will need to do one more task. However, he's tired and lazy, so he thinks a nap is in order. When you're freeing the genie, pausing for other actions will not affect your progress, although you can't cancel one of the steps. So though Pyro couldn't stop baking the lamp, he's able to sleep once it's done.

Now that he's awake, Pyro heads back to the cemetary where this entire adventure started. He heads down into the catacombs with a special "Take the Lamp Underground" command. Pyro's instinct to take a nap paid off: he has to stay down in the catacombs a full day before the curse of the lamp is successfully broken. You'll definitely want to time starting at least the last leg of this while your active Sim is off work and free of other responsibilities.

Pyro comes back up and uses the lamp from his inventory one last time to summon the genie. This time however, the genie becomes a fully controllable Sim that's added to the household!

Being a Genie

This genie, named Silas Decker, is immediately added to the household. Silas has his own set of traits, wishes, and desires just like any normal Sim. He has the same six Mood meters with no special rules other than a double life expectancy. Silas here has the Athletic trait and begins his first day of freedom by jogging down to the sports stadium to join the professional sports career track.

But being a genie doesn't mean he has to do everything the normal way. He has a few interactions under the "Genie..." category to make his life easier. For example, he's worked up quite a sweat after the jog, so he chooses the "Genie... | Clean Sim" self-interaction, which instantly maxes out his Hygiene meter. He can also target others for various commands, or even target the house to instantly clean everything inside it.

One of the coolest commands is a targeted one. By using the "Genie... | Ensorcel Sim" social command, it forces the target to be under your control for a few hours. In practice, this temporarily adds the target to your household, and you can order them to do anything. It's a great way to force a relationship between two Sims or, if you're feeling particularly evil, force an enemy to do something that will screw up their life. Ultimately, you could always ensorcel a Sim and force him to stay locked in a cell to make them starve to death! Revenge can be a cruel mistress.

The best part of having one genie under your command is that you can propogate them around the neighborhood. Unlike Vampires, you can't simply use a social command to turn a target to a genie. However, if your current genie manages to have a family and produce children, each child has a 50/50 chance to also be a genie regardless of gender. After several generations and some lucky coin flips, you'll have several genies running around the neighborhood who will all have magic powers. Freed genies can never be returned to lamps, but at least you'll be able to cast spells and make life a whole lot easier.

If you ever do want another genie to grant your wishes, you can always buy another lamp or find one in the catacombs. The presence of a controllable genie has no impact on whether you can get others; in fact, Silas here could buy his own lamp and have his own genie once he acquires 30,000 Lifetime Points.